MK 11 Skoda Octavia doing only 23Mpg

[SkodaJerry]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum. But have been following the forum for the past year & one of the reasons I purchased a Skoda was because I saw how active the members were in helping each other.

 

I am a cabbie driving a 2008 Skoda Octavia DSG which I purchased 2 months ago for my work. As soon as I purchased the car, I changed the timing belt with tensioners, water pump & pulley. I also did a full service with the change of diesel filter as well.

 

My fuel economy was so bad, I thought it was a gearbox issue. So I took it to a gearbox specialist & changed the DSG gearbox oil with the filter. My gearbox is very smooth when it changes gears & I do not think it has any gearbox issues.

 

With regards to the engine, it starts every time, first time even if I leave it for a few weeks & start. It also starts on the first turn even when on cold mornings where the temperature can be minus very early in the morning.

 

I get 25-27 Mpg on city running without heavy traffic being on the road. If i take it out on the motorway, I get max 35 Mpg. I have got this figure after 3 full tanks of running & not based on the dash information.

 

I have hooked it up to many Snap-on diagnostic machines & no fault codes show. There is no warning lights also on the dash. It drives smooth & all seems to be fine apart from the fuel consumption. I have heard that these engines are good on fuel. This was another reason I purchased this car.

 

Is there any advise you good people here could give me as I seem to fill up most of the time due to doing high miles & this is costing me quite a lot of money.

 

Kind regards

Jerry

[xman]

What engine?

[petrolbloke]

He mentions diesel filter in the post, so probably a 1.9 or 2.0 TDI lump? Would expect more than 35mpg from one of those on the motorway.

 

Have you checked the tyre pressures?

Have you checked for sticking brake calipers?

 

What are the mileages and fuel fill amounts (litres) for your last 3 fills?

Are you sure you're not working mpg out the American way?

[SkodaJerry]

It is the 1.9 TDi. Tyre pressures are 32 Psi which I check on a regular basis. Tyres are moving freely which eliminates the sticking calipers. This one also does not have a DPF. So cannot be a clogged DPF either. I usually pump 52 litres which is almost a full tank as I can see fuel upto the filler hose top. When there is about 50 miles remaining, I pump another full tank which is exactly another 52 litres.

 

52 Litres will get me around 350 miles on city running & around 390 miles on a gentle motorway drive.

 

The mileage is 126498 miles.

 

I have attached a picture of the car tag inside the boot which gives most info.

 

Thanks for your replies.

[Rooted]

Is there a nice clean / new air filter in?

Edited 17 January, 2018 by AwaoffSki

[SkodaJerry]

Yes, I did a full service which included new oil, new air filter, New oil filter & also new diesel filter.

[singh946]

A simple search on the interweb brings up plenty of discussion threads on the BKD engine suffering from poor MPG and pretty same figures as yours. Most have had issues with Thermostat whereby the engine taking time warming up. Few have pointed out issues with the injectors being faulty and also dual mass flywheel. 

If I was you, I'd get the injectors checked first to make sure they are working to their full capacity. 

 

Edit: Also I think yours is a 2.0 TDI engine (103 KW -> 140 Bhp) as there is no BKD 1.9TDI that came in 140Bhp form. IIRC they came in 90, 105, 130, 150 Bhps.

 

Edited 17 January, 2018 by singh946

[Golf-Fiend]

The BKD engine is not the most economical around town, especially start-stop driving cabbie style. I'd expect no more than about 33-35mpg. On a long run however I'd expect at least 45-55mpg. I get these figures in my BKD though mine is manual and I drive to maximize fuel economy. For instance - camping holiday packed car, huge roofbox, two kids, heavy tent and I'd get 48mpg over a 230 mile journey mixed M-Ways and A/B roads. This is measured fuel use based on fuel fill ups. I do drive it like a miserly granny though as I love to eek out as much miles/gallon as possible.

 

I've seen MPG drop in the winter due to winter diesel. My average on my commute (it's short mostly uphill both ways) shows 27-30mpg on the trip though in reality this is about 26mpg as it is only 3 miles in traffic.

[HarleQuinn]

I only get 23mpg city driving but mine is a 2.0 litre Petrol VRS DSG. You should easily be getting more than me, I am a bit stumped but interested for sure on your findings!

[adamal]

Your figures are very low.

 

I have the same engine of the same age and get 10mpg more than you.  Even with that extra 10mpg, I have always been a little disappointed with mine compared to my friend's A4 with the same engine, or figures reported by others on here. Unless I am on a long gentle motorway run I never get over 45, and in town never more than 35. I like you have never found a reason for the lower figures vs what others claim - the car has no faults, runs fantastically and is well maintained.

 

In your case though I would be surprised if there isn't something. It is just too low.  Some things to check are listed above for sure, but first thoroughly rule out a sticking caliper. After a decent run go round each wheel and have a sniff for burning smells or place your hand near (BUT DONT TOUCH!!) the disks. You should detect discernible heat if any of the calipers are sticking. Rears are probably more likely as that is where the handbrake operates.  Another thing to rule out is poor wheel alignment although to be honest if it was that I would have thought differential tyre wear would be very noticeable at a quick glance.

 

Adam

Edited 17 January, 2018 by adamal

[booke23]

I notice you had the timing belt changed recently. I wonder if the engine has been timed up properly. 

 

The procedure for changing the cambelt on these engines is quite specific, involving using a set of locking pins. It's very easy to not locate the pins properly and for the timing to be out.....indeed some garages might attempt the job without locking pins which is virtually guaranteed to cause timing issues. Even a slight anomaly in timing can cause significant MPG problems.   

 

Might be worth getting it checked.

[adamal]

Good point

[petrolbloke]

Engine timing, thermostat and injectors are all good suggestions.

 

If you have a sticking caliper then the wheel will get warm/hot after driving for a while.

 

OP didn't answer whether he's using the American gallon or British gallon.

[cbanwellclode]

I have a very similar car, except manual transmission, i.e. 2008 Estate 2.0 TDi  140bhp BKD. Mine has just under 90,000 miles on the clock.

 

I've had the car from new and have recorded all the fuel that has ever been in the car. I  do about 10k miles a year, but do drive gently. It will hardly ever return less than 45mpg, and often get up to 55mpg, the computer will regularly say mid 60s during a long single trip. On mine on a motorway run at a constant 70mph I would expect my computer to be saying something around the mid 50s.

 

Over the lifetime of the car it has averaged 48.4mpg, which is steadily getting better, after the first year it was about 44mpg.

 

On the sticking caliper discussion, I've had both front ones stick on mine (it's about the only thing that has gone wrong), but when they were stuck I didn't find that it affected the mpg that much. Both times for me it was obvious they were stuck as I could smell the burning while driving along and even the tyres were hot to touch. For a few weeks the first one would stick every now and again, so I did drive quite a few times when it was stuck but the consumption wasn't really affected. Even with the sticking incidents I'm still on the original pads!

 

On the stuck thermostat discussion, mine has always taken an age to warm up. In the cold weather on a 30 minute/7 mile commute to work I'll be lucky if it reaches normal temperature. I'f I'm stuck in a queue and the outside temperature is around freezing I will notice the temperature gauge slowly dropping back to cold. Again this doesn't seem to drastically affect my consumption.

[robt100]

Might not make MUCH difference, but get those tyre pressures sorted! As a taxi I would assume its better to run 'fully laden' pressures, which IIRC for the combi is about 36psi front and 42-45psi rear. Should notice an effect of 1 or 2 mpg. Mine is the 1.9 rather than the 2.0, but 45-55 round the city centre all day is normal. 55-65 on a long run.

My mother-in-law has the 2.0 DSG and gets the same and sometimes better mileage than me. Admittedly hers is on a Shark remap and she drives at a speed even glaciers have a chance at overtaking at

Edited 19 January, 2018 by robt100

[SkodaJerry]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the great input & ideas. I have always kept my tyre pressure at 32 bar on all 4 tyres. Is this wrong?

 

I also contacted a ECU remapping guy who told me to run the car on super diesel for 2 full tanks & check if there is any difference in fuel consumption. Surprisingly the car which was doing 27 Mpg on city running & 35 Mpg on motorways has improved to 34 Mpg city & 42 Mpg motorway respectively on my first full tank of BP Ultimate Diesel.

 

With regards to the thermostat, the car warms up within 20 mins of running to the half point on the dash meter & stays at that point.

 

With regards to the timing belt change, the garage is quite experienced to this kind of jobs & I even saw them using locking pins when doing the timing. So I believe the timing is correct. Hope so.

[xman]

Looks like coked up injectors giving bad spray pattern then, caused by lots of low speed slogging/cold stop start running/poor fuel/blocked air filter in its former life.

 

Bp ultimate will eventually clean them up. As a cheap alternative to BP ultimate, I would recommended Millers diesel Ecomax additive.

 

[Golf-Fiend]

For cleaning up injectors I swear by Forte Injector Treatment

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00U2PQ0R0/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1516565664&sr=8-11&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=diesel+injector+cleaner

 

i put a bottle in half a tank of diesel. Drive gently for a day then go on a steady M-way drive but keep revs above 3500rpm for 15-20 minutes. This will get combustion chambers, valves and injector tips nice and hot and burn off deposits. It seems to work well in the same engine I have. 

[SkodaJerry]

Seems like the injectors were clogged up by bad care by previous owner. I have purchased the below product already.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Archoil-AR6900-D-Max-Advanced-Diesel-Fuel-Synthesis-1-Litre/371680538135?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

Should I use this product with supermarket fuel or BP Ultimate Diesel?

 

Also can I know about the tyre pressures. A member wrote "

On 19/01/2018 at 23:51, robt100 said:

Might not make MUCH difference, but get those tyre pressures sorted! As a taxi I would assume its better to run 'fully laden' pressures, which IIRC for the combi is about 36psi front and 42-45psi rear. Should notice an effect of 1 or 2 mpg. Mine is the 1.9 rather than the 2.0, but 45-55 round the city centre all day is normal. 55-65 on a long run.

My mother-in-law has the 2.0 DSG and gets the same and sometimes better mileage than me. Admittedly hers is on a Shark remap and she drives at a speed even glaciers have a chance at overtaking at

 

[Golf-Fiend]

Looks like good stuff. As I say put that in then good hard runs to get it all hot works well

 

i use 34 fronts and 35.5 rear psi on 205/55/15 tyres

[robt100]

1 hour ago, SkodaJerry said:

Seems like the injectors were clogged up by bad care by previous owner. I have purchased the below product already.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Archoil-AR6900-D-Max-Advanced-Diesel-Fuel-Synthesis-1-Litre/371680538135?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

Should I use this product with supermarket fuel or BP Ultimate Diesel?

 

 

The archoil stuff is very good, think I used their 6400D cleaner on mine. Doesn't make an improvement on that very tank, but from then onwards works a treat!

[booke23]

I'll be amazed if a bottle of injector cleaner improves your economy from 25-35mpg to the 45-55mpg you should be getting. 

[Golf-Fiend]

8 hours ago, booke23 said:

I'll be amazed if a bottle of injector cleaner improves your economy from 25-35mpg to the 45-55mpg you should be getting. 

 

 

Put a Team Sky sticker on it and call it a "marginal gain" 

[mroberts]

I have the BKD and regular MPG is 48-55 depending on how i'm driving, late 30's to early 40's in town.

 

Mine has done 169K

 

Certainly stay away from super market fuel if you can, as there is a theory that it contains 10% bio, where as Shell, BP, Esso etc etc are less bio based. Bio could  be bad for these cars?? so if you stay away from it may be better.

If you live near a Costco their premium diesel is great.

maybe the injectors need removing and cleaning professionally?

 

Surely some of the Additives may make a difference if you use then on half a tank not a full tank upping the concentration.

[Golf-Fiend]

1 hour ago, mroberts said:

I have the BKD and regular MPG is 48-55 depending on how i'm driving, late 30's to early 40's in town.

 

Mine has done 169K

 

Certainly stay away from super market fuel if you can, as there is a theory that it contains 10% bio, where as Shell, BP, Esso etc etc are less bio based. Bio could  be bad for these cars?? so if you stay away from it may be better.

If you live near a Costco their premium diesel is great.

maybe the injectors need removing and cleaning professionally?

 

Surely some of the Additives may make a difference if you use then on half a tank not a full tank upping the concentration.

 

What app is this you use? Looks very handy.

 

Are the MPG figures calculated by actual liters used or those displayed?